Jan Scholten's Periodic System of Plants

by Carol Jones

“All
the cosmic and natural laws are written in trees, in flowers, in grass, in the
shining of the sun, in the flow of rivers, in rains and the wind… and in all
the beauties of nature.” Edmund Szekely, “Medicine To-Morrow”, 1938

Jan Scholten
presented his new system in October to North American audiences through two well
attended seminars in Vancouver, British Columbia and Toronto, Ontario.
These seminars provided an introduction to Jan’s forthcoming book Wonderful Plants, to be released in
early 2013. He presented interesting cases, many remedies of which were found in
his recent Lamu Provings(Alonnissos, 2011), a new book of
sixteen plant trituration provings.

In Jan’s own
words, his goal is to create a systematic overview of the plant kingdom in
order to get a grasp on the prescription of plants. From my perspective as a
homeopath, his system creates a clearer and more extensive accessibility to the
plant kingdom, much as his Elements System did for me with the mineral kingdom.

The Periodic System
of Plants uses many aspects of Scholten’s Elements system in conjunction with
the botanical APG III (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group) classification system. The APG III (published in 2009) is based upon
current DNA analysis. The beauty of Jan
Scholten’s new system is that it uses a clear, systematic approach yet
incorporates the complexity and multi-dimensionality of plants. He believes
that categorizing plants for homeopathic prescribing has been a difficult
process for several reasons:- Complexity; much more so than minerals- The fact
that relationships in the plant kingdom are less sure than in the mineral
kingdom- In homeopathic prescribing the vast majority of plants are unknown.

He highlighted the
importance of utilizing plant evolution information in our prescription of
plants because evolutionary difference is reflected in the APG III classification
and seen throughout nature.

The System

Scholten believes
that a good classification works on all levels, for example the periodic table
works for chemistry but also works for homeopathy. The same applies to APG
classification: it is good for botany and it should be good for homeopathy.

He has devised an
innovative numeric-based classification system which is specific to each plant.
I liken it to the Dewey Decimal system - a library classification system. It is
similar in that it moves from a general grouping to a specific grouping,
allowing the user to access or place the plant within a larger
classification. In Scholten’s system,
each plant will have its own 7 digit number reflecting its APG III phylum, order,
family, class, sub-class, and genus. Seven digits is not a random choice. Jan
believes that the number seven is very special and is provided by nature. For
example, you can see it reflected through the seven series in the periodic
table and in the development of a life cycle. One of the beautiful aspects of
Jan Scholten’s Element system is the series concepts which follow the life
cycle. You come into existence (Hydrogen series), move into childhood (Carbon
series), then into teenage-hood (Silica) and finally into various ages of
adulthood (Iron to Gold series).

Scholten has
combined the concepts and organization of the APG III system and the Element
system and used them as the underpinning of his new Periodic Plant System. In
his Plant system, the Angiosperm phylum corresponds to the Gold/Lanthanide
series in the periodic table. This represents a high level of self-reflection
and evolution. Scholten believes that everyone is an Angiosperm, part of the
monophyletic group (clade), i.e. descended from a common evolutionary ancestor
or ancestral group, especially one not shared with any other group. It is the
sixth series and represented by the number 6.

As in his Element
System, answering the question “what is
the problem” in case analysis leads you to a series. This is reflected in
the Plant System through the class, for example, monocots. Once that is
determined, you ask “what is the main
focus of the case”, which leads you to the sub-class. There are seven
classes and seven sub-classes which mirror the periodic table series. To
determine the phase and sub-phase, you ask “what
happens (externally)”, “how it is for them”, “and how do they feel about it”. There
are seven phases, and seven sub-phases which take the 17 periodic table stages
and synthesize them into seven. Finally, “how
they handle it” and “how they react
to what happens” is the stage as it is in the Element System, e.g. she
fights (stage 12). There are seventeen
stages.

The Periodic Plant
System diagramsand charts lead you
to answering these questions. Complete detailed charts, including those
essential for determining the sub-phase of the prescription, will be available
in the book.

For example, a
prescription of Amaryllis would be 63356.12 in Scholten’s Periodic system of Plants. The number 6 represents Angiosperm, #3 represents Monocots
(class), #3 represents Lilliales (sub-class), #5 represents Asparagales (phase), #6 represents Amaryllidaceae (sub-phase) and #12 represents the stage, just like the
Element System.

Jan Scholten
stated that his Periodic Plant System is still evolving and will have
continuing refinements. A wonderful bi-product of this system is that it
clearly shows where the gaps are in our plant materia medica and where we can
be doing future plant provings. He noted
for example that in the Amborellales, Pandanales and the Celastrales plant
families we have no or very few remedies.

One aspect that I
love about Jan Scholten’s system is that it works with current Botanical knowledge
and research. His system can evolve along with changes in botanical information. It really reflects the totality expressed in
homeopathy by reflecting the intention of our profession and following the
order of the natural world. It is greatly needed in these complex times. I
already know that when his book comes out it will transform my prescribing the
same way Elements did, and the world and all in it will
benefit greatly.

Summary of Plant System SeminarsReply #1 on : Thu January 31, 2013, 21:39:15

Thank you for this inspiring summary Carol. Attending the Toronto seminar was so exciting but now having this is a way to feel grounded with what am still digesting -- mostly that we have a wonderful new way to get the smallest plant prescriptions for our patients and will not be stumbling thru our MM's but can actually get going on the use of botanical medicine homeopathically due to a new ingenius system.